5 feared dead in fire at Kandla chemical storage terminal

Kandla, Dec 30 (IANS) One person has been killed, and four are missing and feared dead in a fire accident in a chemical storage terminal at Kandla in Gujarat.The incident took place around noon on Monday, when a group of workers was involved in welding work at the storage tank. The tank containing 2,000 metric tons of methanol caught fire which then blew away the roof of the tank.Officials at the IMC terminal said, "Currently fire fighting is under progress by foam media by DPT fire brigade section, IMC team and other associated terminals."The officials also said that to ensure the fire does not spread, cooling of another nearby tank is also being done with the help of medium velocity water sprinklers.In 2002, a similar accident had ocurred in Kesar terminal and it had taken three days to control it and entire Kandla complex was vacated at the time.
--IANS pvn/prs